Why go outside with the zombies, sharks and bugs?

Author

HobbyBoxBurns

When you’re the top dog, it can be easy to become complacent. This generation, PlayStation has been soaring off of one of the greatest conferences in history during E3 2013 when they announced the PlayStation 4 (PS4). Since then, they’ve had many solid performances as well as a couple of killer, crowd pleasing conferences at E3 2015 and 2016.

2018 has already been a huge year for Ubisoft, having finally repelled the hostile takeover attempt by Vivendi. This is coming off of a year in which the financial successes of Assassin’s Creed Origins, Ghost Recon: Wildlands, and For Honor and the critical success of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle have buoyed the prospects the company to new heights.

A couple of months ago, the talk around the interwebs would be if Bethesda was even going to have a press conference at E3 2018. What games do they have in progress? Do they really have anything major to discuss? Nothing that can be the tentpole of a conference like Wolfenstein II last year or Doom the year before, right?

We have progressed to Day -1 of E3 2018 and it is time for Microsoft to literally take the stage. So let’s just jump right into it!

Why E3 2018 is Important to XBox

Ever since E3 2013, Microsoft has been doing their best to recover from the unfortunate messaging they placed around the launch of the XBox One. Fighting from behind from that moment on, the team at XBox, led by Phil Spencer, have been attempting to right the ship and try to return the brand to the glory days of the XBox 360.

While the XBox One is still dwarfed by the PlayStation 4 in sales by about a 2-to-1 margin, Microsoft is continuing to double-down on trying to please and entice fans with programs that are placing gamers first. With their extremely noble effort on backwards compatibility, now having numerous Original XBox and XBox 360 games up-rezzed and available on XBox One, and XBox Game Pass, a subscription service allowing access to an ever-changing list of games, they have done a lot to right the wrongs of the past.

It is that time of year that all hardcore videogame followers yearn for – the kick-off of the Summer Gaming Convention Season with the Electronics Entertainment Expo (a.k.a. E3 Baby!)

I’m HobbyBoxBurns and I’m starting off my contributions to Outside is Overrated by following the announcements and hubbub surrounding E3 2018.

For the uninitiated, E3 is the first showcase of the gaming fiscal year where all of the gaming publishers and developers gather in Los Angeles, CA to show off what they are cooking for the coming year and beyond. However, this isn’t just targeted at games enthusiasts (in fact, regular fans couldn’t even attend the event until last year) – it is also where the companies pitch their roadmap to investors and wholesalers as to why their games are going to be awesome and need to be distributed in mass quantities everywhere.

Anyway, enough with the E3 background, and onto the first conference/showcase of E3 2018 with the EA Play Showcase.